The Best Universal Remote Control

If you’re looking for an easy-to-use universal remote to control up to eight devices, we recommend the Logitech Harmony 650. It’s the best option for most people looking to simplify the operation of their home theater or media system. It’s easier to program than any non-Harmony remote. Its backlit hard-button layout makes it simple to use, even in the dark, and it’s way cheaper than other systems that are equally comprehensive.

Last Updated:
Two years ago

The Logitech Harmony 650 remains our overall pick—it’s been around for several years, but we still can’t find anything that beats it in capability or user friendliness in this price range. Since the last update of this guide, Logitech has reduced the number of products in its Harmony line and changed some product names. This new guide reflects those changes and also includes a review of the latest Harmony flagship remote, the Elite, our pick for complex home theaters. Those looking for a budget model should check out the Harmony 350, while those interested in checking out whole home control or with mostly Wi-Fi devices should get the Harmony Companion. While we still feel Harmony is the only real contender right now, three other interesting high-end remotes from Savant, Ray, and Neeo should become available this year, and we’ll update with our views on those once testing is complete.

Two years ago:
We know it's been a long time since the last update of this guide, but based on our most recent testing, we still recommend the Logitech Harmony 650 as the universal remote that's best for most people's home theaters and audio/video media systems. The Harmony 650 has been around for a few years, but it still does a better job of controlling all your home theater components (up to eight) than anything else at that price. Logitech's configuration software is easy enough that most anyone can set up the remote in less than an hour, and the activity-based organization of the remote makes running your system a pleasure. If you need more advanced features, we recommend the Logitech Harmony Companion. It adds smart home device control (including Philips Hue, Sonos, Nest and others), Bluetooth and Wi-Fi support, can operate devices hidden in a cabinet or closet, and comes with an app that lets you run your home theater from your Android or iOS phone or tablet. A full update to this guide will be posted soon.

Four years ago:
Updated with our thoughts on the Harmony Smart Control based on hands-on testing.

Four years ago:
The Harmony Smart Control---a combination of smartphone control and physical remote---is starting to be reviewed. Waiting on our own hands-on before we make a call.

The Harmony 650 remains the best universal remote for the typical AV system of a TV, receiver, cable DVR, and Blu-ray player. It’s cable of controlling up to eight components, which leaves plenty of room for a few extra gadgets as long as they’re controlled via infrared (IR) signals; most gear is.

Two of the key features that put the Harmony 650 above the competitors are an easy-to-read, backlit, color display and a built-in Remote Assistant function for troubleshooting. The display tells you what activity mode you’re in (such as Watch TV, Watch Blu-ray, and Listen to CD) and also displays icons for your favorite channels, so you don’t have to remember the channel number every time you want to watch SyFy. The Remote Assistant feature is like a built-in help desk. If the remote fails to perform a task you expect it to (such as turn up the TV’s volume), you can follow the Remote Assistant’s guided suggestions to quickly resolve the problem. Usually that’s a matter of answering yes or no to questions about which components are correctly powered up.

However, it isn’t perfect. (As it turns out, there is no perfect remote; we’ll explain below.) The Logitech Harmony 650 only replaces up to eight other remotes, and while that’s probably more than you have in your system, some users with more complex systems will need a more flexible replacement.

More elaborate and a little harder to set up, the Harmony Companion doesn’t require line-of-sight to your gear, is able to control Wi-Fi and Bluetooth devices, and can even run your smart home.

The Logitech Harmony Companion (previously called Harmony Home Control) is a little harder to set up and use than the 650 due to its lack of an LCD display or backlit buttons, but it offers Wi-Fi and Bluetooth control (which many newer devices like Sonos Wireless Speakers and Amazon’s Fire TV use) plus infrared blasters so you can hide your components in a cabinet and still control them. You can also use a smartphone/tablet app to control your system. Plus, it has more options for home automation control (we’ll cover what all this means below).

The Harmony Companion is able to integrate with several do-it-yourself home automation hubs and smart devices, such as lights, locks, thermostats, and motorized shades, which is something few other universal remote controls can do. Further, the Harmony mobile app on a smartphone or tablet provides remote control and access to your system and smart devices from anywhere via the internet. No other remote control we can find offers this much control, connectivity, and compatibility for the money.

However, the Companion is more difficult to setup and program; it is made for tech-savvy people.

Harmony’s flagship remote adds support for up to 15 devices and a screen for maximum flexibility for home theater and smart home enthusiasts.

If you need the Companion’s level of control, ease of programming, vast control database and smart activity-based systems but still want a touchscreen or want to add even more devices to better integrate your smarthome into your system, the Harmony Elite is your remote. Another Hub-based Harmony, it adds a touchscreen and support for up to 15 devices to the Companion’s specifications, giving home theater enthusiasts and smart home experimenters maximum flexibility.

Misses out on the 650’s great Help feature and display, but controls eight devices at a cheaper price.

If a color LCD screen doesn’t impress you, and you want to save about two plain pizza’s worth of money, the Logitech Harmony 350 is your remote. It can control all the same devices with the same amount of skill as the 650, but it’s not backlit, and it lacks the handy help feature built into the 650. If it weren’t for the lack of a backlight, this would make an economical remote for bedroom TVs (where you are almost certainly in the dark).

Sixty-five years after Zenith introduced the first TV remote control, it seems we’re still waiting for someone to perfect one, but the 650 and Companion are as close as you can get today without spending several hundred dollars.

Why you should trust us

We’ve each been writing about electronics and reviewing home technology for more than 15 years. Darryl Wilkinson has written for both print and online publications such as Home Theater Magazine, Digital TV & Sound, and Electronic House. He’s currently editor-at-large for Sound & Vision. Prior to his reviewing career, he spent almost 14 years working for independent AV stores in both retail sales and purchasing.

Grant Clauser has held editor positions for several leading consumer electronics publications, including Dealerscope, E-Gear, and Electronic House, and he has written for Sound & Vision, Big Picture Big Sound, Consumer Digest, and others. He’s reviewed hundreds of products, including some of the first universal remotes. He is ISF-certified for video calibration and completed Control4 programming and THX Level II home theater design courses.

The collection of dedicated remotes that our tester was able to replace with a Logitech Harmony remote.

Who needs a universal remote?

You already have a remote for you TV and your DVR, so why do you need another? If your home entertainment system consists of only two or three devices, such as a TV, a DVR and maybe a DVD or Blu-ray player, you may not want a universal remote. But if sitting down to watch TV or a movie requires shuffling between several remotes, switching inputs and powering multiple components at the same time, then a universal remote is for you. A home theater based around an AV receiver and several content sources is a prime candidate for a universal remote.

It’s true that while many TV, AV receiver, and cable DVR remotes have some universal control capabilities, they only solve the most basic problems, like adding TV volume control to a DVD remote. That’s where a device like the Harmony 650 comes in.

A bad universal remote simply combines all the functions of several remotes into one device, but does nothing to integrate those functions in a more useful way. A good universal remote not only eliminates coffee table clutter and the remote shuffle but also eliminates button pushes by combining multiple actions into one button press. For instance, instead of having to push separate buttons to turn on your TV, switch HDMI inputs, power on your AV receiver, change inputs there, turn on your Blu-ray player, and—finally—pressing the play button to get your movie started, a good universal remote can reduce all of that to one command (“Play Movie”) that you can access at the touch of a single button. Some remotes refer to this bundling of commands as “macros,” while Harmony calls them “activities.” This functionality used to be reserved solely for high-end professionally programmed systems, but these days, a few relatively inexpensive remotes (in particular those from Logitech’s Harmony lineup) can do the same complex jobs.

It may seem like the $70 or so for our main pick, the Harmony 650, is a lot of money to spend (especially since you can get a decent Blu-ray player for about that price), and around twice that for the Harmony Companion probably sounds like way too much for a gadget that most AV components already come with. But keep this in mind: because your remote control is the primary device you interact with when you use your AV system, getting a single good universal remote that does the job of eight mediocre remotes is a very satisfying upgrade to that system. CNET’s David Katzmaier puts it this way, “In 15-odd years of reviewing TV and home theater equipment, the one thing I always tell people to buy is a ‘good universal remote.’”

How we picked and tested

A universal remote control has to be, well, universal. That means that the remote can control all the components an average audio/video enthusiast could throw at it. A typical system will have five or six devices, including a TV (or projector), DVD/Blu-ray player, DVR, surround sound receiver, and maybe a media player (such as a Roku or Apple TV). A game system or two might also be included. A remote that can juggle eight devices at once will cover most systems. Because most devices rely on IR (infrared) control, rather than IP (internet protocol) or Bluetooth, an IR remote will be sufficient for most people. (If a PlayStation 3 or 4 is on your gear list and you insist it be supported by your remote, your list of options is a little more limited.)

In addition to supporting the right number of components, the remote should have a well-organized button layout or on-screen display, with the most important buttons (such as volume, pause and play) easily accessible. An activity-based design, as described above, is also preferred.

Finally, we want a remote to be easy to program. If you need a certificate in C++ to program it, that’s too difficult.

These days, selecting the best universal remote is largely a matter of selecting the best Logitech Harmony device.

If you scan Amazon and other online retailers for universal remotes you’ll find a lot of low-end replacement remotes—remotes whose primary purpose is to replace the one the dog ate and do little else. Philips used to sell a series of programmable remotes called Pronto, and Sony offered a couple of nice universal remotes in years past, but they’ve also discontinued their line. The company called Universal Remote Control (appropriately enough) used to lead the pack (the URC-R40 was a good example), but they now focus almost exclusively on control systems for professional installation.

And then there’s Logitech. These days, selecting the best universal remote is largely a matter of selecting the best Logitech Harmony device.

Something from Logitech’s Harmony lineup is your best option for Universal Remote Control these days. From left, the Harmony 650, Harmony Companion, Harmony 350, and Harmony Elite. Photo: Michael Hession

A few new options have emerged, some of which we’ll discuss in the What to look forward to section below. And if you don’t mind using your smartphone or tablet as a remote, here are several app-based remote systems. Usually these system require some separate hardware that take a Bluetooth signal from your phone or tablet and send out an IR signal to your AV components. Logitech, of course, offers a system like this, as does Peel. We tried out both of those to see if an app alone can be good substitute for a handheld remote.

The Logitech Harmony 650 is the best universal remote for most people because it can coordinate the functions of up to eight components, is relatively simple to program with its MyHarmony software, and uses a smart, activity-based interface that simplifies control of your whole home theater. It can only control IR (infrared) devices—that’s most audio, video, and home theater gear—but it can’t communicate over Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, so it isn’t compatible with some recent devices (Logitech’s Hub-based devices, which we’ll discuss below, are a better option if you need more than IR control).

The Harmony 650. Photo: Michael Hession

Programming a universal remote can be a chore, but it doesn’t have to be. In fact, that’s one of the highlights of the whole Harmony line—they’re very simple to program (and the Harmony software is improving all the time). While no one has come up with a no-hassle method of programming a universal remote (much as no one has been able to design the perfect remote), Harmony comes closest.

Initial programming of the Harmony 650 requires the use of Logitech’s MyHarmony desktop software (Windows or Mac) and a MyHarmony online account. You can register up to six different Harmony remotes under one account, by the way, in case you have more than one AV system at home. After connecting the Harmony 650 to your computer by plugging the included Micro-USB cable into the port on the front end of the remote, the MyHarmony software will guide you through setting up the Harmony 650 “in 3 steps.”

The first step is to add your devices. MyHarmony will ask you to enter the manufacturer and model number of each component; it then searches for that component’s remote control codes in Logitech’s massive database and, once found, immediately adds it to your list of devices.

This process is much easier than the methods used to program non-Harmony remotes. Those remotes often use the more traditional universal remote programming, which instead of a computer, requires searching for a specific four-digit code for each of your components in the remote’s instruction manual and entering those on the remote itself. Then you still have to turn the power of each component on or off using the remote to verify you’ve entered the correct code. If you haven’t, it’s back to the manual to find an alternate code to enter.

Once you’ve added all of your devices, MyHarmony will guide you through creating “Activities,” which are ways of doing multiple things (such as turning on devices and switching to the correct inputs) by pressing a single button on the Harmony 650. Depending on the types of components you have—perhaps a TV, a DVD player, a receiver, and a cable box—MyHarmony will suggest a number of possible Activities, such as “Watch TV” or “Listen to Music” (you can also create your own custom Activities).

As you create your Activities, MyHarmony will ask a series of questions, such as: “What input should your AV Receiver be set to when you watch a movie?” and “Which device controls the volume?” Once you’re done, you can assign your newly-created Activity to one of the three Activity Buttons on the remote. You can program more than three, but you’ll have to access the additional activities through the LCD screen. When it comes time to use the remote, just press “Watch Blu-ray” and the Harmony will turn everything on and switch them to the right inputs.

The Harmony 650 is very comfortable to hold in your hand, with the most frequently used buttons—volume up/down, channel up/down, play/pause, and a cursor control pad for navigating through on-screen menus and channel guides—all located within easy reach of your thumb. All of the raised buttons on the Harmony 650 are distinct in shape and spaced far enough apart from one another that it soon becomes second nature to operate the remote without needing to take your eyes off the TV.

Located just below the Activity buttons at the top of the remote is a color display screen with two selection buttons on each side. Additional Activities beyond the three already assigned to the individual Activity buttons can be selected using this screen, and you can also use the display to access functions on components that don’t have a corresponding button on the Harmony 650, such as Picture-in-Picture or Surround Sound Mode.

By far, the most helpful feature of the Harmony 650—the one that will keep you from pulling your hair out if there’s a problem with the way your system is working—is the “Help” function accessed from a button above the display. If for some reason your TV didn’t turn on or the receiver didn’t switch to the correct input after you selected an Activity, pressing the Help button will cause the Harmony 650 to immediately emit an infrared command that will, ideally, rectify the situation.

The Harmony 650’s Help is so simple to use that the only notable requirement is the ability to read the questions on the display screen.

Once the 650 makes its first attempt, the query “Did that fix the problem?” will appear on the color screen. If you answer Yes, the Help screen goes away. If you answer No, the Harmony 650 will ask further questions, such as “Is the AV Receiver off?” If your answer is Yes, the remote will send out a command to turn the receiver back on and once again ask, “Did that fix the problem?” Yes turns off Help; No initiates another question, and so on.

The Harmony 650’s Help is so simple to use that the only notable requirement is the ability to read the questions on the display screen. Instead of English, you can choose to have the Harmony 650 ask its questions in one of 12 other languages (including Suomi).The ability to set up Activities and the built-in Help function make the Harmony 650 easy enough for nearly anyone to use. In that respect, it’s truly a universal remote control.

Who else likes it?

CNET gave it 3.5 out of five stars, saying simply, “The Logitech Harmony 650 is one of the best universal remotes you can buy for less than $100.” They liked the “great ergonomics; color LCD screen surrounded by five contextual buttons; Web programmable via Windows or Mac PCs; excellent button layout and overall design” and how it supports “custom sequences/macros.”

Digital Trends liked it a little better, giving it four out of five stars. “It’s hard to hate the Harmony. It’s even harder to hate the Harmony for under $100. Surprisingly at that price, the 650 still has the functionality of pricier controllers…“

Engadget liked it too: “There’s not much to dislike about the 650. It offers most of the features of the higher-end Harmony models but at a more approachable price.

Trusted Reviews gave it a 3.5/5, saying “…great ergonomics and high-quality build maintain the standards of this illustrious series. Just prepare for a couple of painful setup hours before the bliss of a one-remote home setup becomes a reality.”

It’s worth noting that most of the reviews were from when the 650 first came out, and reviewers found the original version’s five-device limit a negative. The current 650 controls eight devices.

On Amazon, based on 4,681 reviews, the 650 has an average rating of four of five.

Flaws but not dealbreakers (unless you own a PlayStation 3 or 4)

The Harmony 650 is only able to control AV devices that use infrared (IR) remote controls. For most users, that limitation won’t be an issue because it covers the vast majority of past, current, and (most likely) future AV components—and just to give you an idea of how many components that is, Harmony maintains and continually updates an astoundingly large remote control code database for over 270,000 home theater devices.

However, there are AV devices that don’t use IR remotes, such as Sony’s PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4, Sonos’s Wireless Speakers, Philips Hue, and Amazon’s Fire TV. If you currently have one of those components or plan on adding one to your system in the near future, you won’t be able to use the Harmony 650 to control it. In other words, you’ll be back to using two or more remote controls. That might not be a big deal as long as you’re happy having all your other gear under control. If you absolutely need Bluetooth control in your system, any of the Harmony Hub products will work, including the Harmony Companion and the flagship product, the Harmony Elite. The Hub-based remotes will also control your Wi-Fi supported products like Sonos and Philips Hue.

Another reason to investigate a Wi-Fi or Bluetooth option, if your components support it, is that the line-of-sight nature of IR remote signals can mean the status of the components in your system might get out of sync when an Activity is started or ended if you don’t keep the Harmony 650 pointed in the direction of the equipment while all of the remote control commands are emitted. The more commands that are included in the Activity, the more chances there are for this to happen. Generally, the Help function should be able to rectify the problem, but it’s still less than perfect. You also won’t be able to use the 650 if you have your components tucked away in a cabinet someplace (unless you invest in separate IR repeaters).

Finally, the MyHarmony program requires a connection to the internet when in use. That’s because all of the database searching and guided programming is done in real time on Logitech’s servers. This sometimes results in slow response times while using MyHarmony. Some people may not like the fact that you have to create an MyHarmony account that’s registered with Logitech.

We think the 650 is the best choice for most people. However, because of its limitations, several of us here (including me) would get the more expensive and elaborate Harmony Companion.

Misses out on the 650’s great Help feature and display, but controls eight devices at a cheaper price.

We think the 650 is a great value for what it offers, especially for something you’ll be using multiple times per day, every day. If its price is too much of a stretch, however, the Harmony 350 also controls 8 devices and is very similar to the 650.

The Harmony 350. Photo: Michael Hession

However, there are a few things that keep it from being our overall pick. The loss of the screen means it isn’t as simple to use. Also, its buttons aren’t backlit, which is a big deal if you’re trying to use the remote in the dark (which is most of the time for a lot of us). It also lacks the interactive help feature, which we find… you guessed it, helpful.

If those features don’t interest you, the 350 can save you around $30. For most people, though, we think the 650 is worth that little bit more.

For more advanced home theaters

More elaborate and a little harder to set up, the Harmony Companion doesn’t require line-of-sight to your gear, is able to control Wi-Fi and Bluetooth devices, and can even run your smart home.

The Harmony Companion (though you may still see it referred in stores and reviews as the “Harmony Home Control,” it is the same product; the company is in the process of changing the name) is twice as expensive as the Harmony 650, and it controls the same number of devices, so when you consider it strictly in terms of replacing a tableful of device remotes, it may not seem worth the upgrade. It shares the same MyHarmony application for setup and programming, and it has a similarly intuitive, conveniently arranged button layout. But there’s much more to the Harmony Companion than meets the eye, especially for people who have Wi-Fi or Bluetooth devices in their systems or are interested in expanding their AV systems to include home automation. Like the Harmony Elite, with an Amazon Echo and Alexa’s IFTTT channel, you can create recipes for voice control.

The Harmony Companion remote is smaller, sleeker, and more powerful than the Harmony 650, but gives up the cheaper device’s useful display and easy-to-navigate help functions. (The help feature is available on the Companion app.) Photo: Michael Hession

So what do you get for the extra money? First of all, the Harmony Companion is a two-piece system consisting of a handheld remote and a separate “Hub” that’s placed next to the AV components in your system. The Harmony Companion’s handheld remote has a rubberized texture on the front and back, which eliminates fingerprints and reduces the chances of it slipping out of your hand. The remote doesn’t have a built-in IR emitter. Instead, the IR emitter, along with the Bluetooth and Wi-Fi radios, are built into the Hub—this means that if you own Sonos wireless speakers or any of the other non-IR devices mentioned previously, the Harmony Companion’s built-in Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity alone will be worth the extra money. And Bluetooth and Wi-Fi let you communicate with and control a number of smart-home systems and devices—either in conjunction with your AV system or strictly by themselves.

The Hub—which houses an IR emitter along with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi transmitters—is the heart of the Harmony Companion system (and several other Logitech universal remotes). To the left is an IR blaster that you can position in plain sight if you prefer to hide the Hub away. Photo: Michael Hession

When you press a button on the Harmony Companion’s handheld remote, it sends a radio signal to the Hub telling it which button has been pushed. The Hub then emits the appropriate IR, Bluetooth, or Wi-Fi signal(s). One benefit of having the IR emitters in a separate hub is that it no longer matters where you point the handheld remote. As a matter of fact, the remote doesn’t even need to be in the same room as the Hub, so long as you place the Hub where the IR signals it emits will reach your AV components. This can be inside a cabinet behind closed doors, on top of a stack of AV components, or even in another part of the room. The Hub also comes with a wired IR “blaster” that can be pointed to reach components in another direction. It also has a 3.5-millimeter jack for a second blaster if you want to add one. Your Wi-Fi gear can be anywhere within reach of your wireless network, of course.

It’s important to note that you could add the ability to hide your components by picking up your own IR extenders or even add digital RF to the Harmony 650 and not have to worry about which way to point your remote. But that solution requires you use special ⅔-size AAA batteries in the Harmony 650 instead of standard-size AAA batteries. These batteries also need to be recharged periodically. The Harmony Companion’s handheld remote, on the other hand, uses a single CR2032 that Logitech says can be expected to last up to one year.

The Harmony Companion (left) is powered by a CR-2032 watch battery that can last up to a year; the Harmony 650 is powered by standard AAA cells. Photo: Michael Hession

But that still wouldn’t get you the Companion’s Wi-Fi or Bluetooth connectivity, and, perhaps more interesting for forward-looking buyers, it wouldn’t get you into Harmony’s new emphasis on integrating its remotes—and your AV system—into an overall smart-home setup.

Basically, the Harmony Companion provides a way of unifying your AV system and your automation system in a seamless, though limited, way. If you’re interested in getting started with a basic home automation system, one consisting of a few smart devices, such as a thermostat and lock and light, the Harmony Home Control can do double duty as both an automation controller and a universal remote control. Most other automation-only hubs cost $50 or more and are strictly for home automation. Adam Miarka of Zatz Not Funny! describes it this way: “In essence, Logitech has used the Harmony Hub as a trojan horse to become the central unit to control all the devices in your house.”

The convenience and comfort benefits of controlling the lighting and even being able to adjust the thermostat while you’re watching TV are pretty obvious. But you may be wondering why you’d want to control your water heater with your universal remote control. You likely wouldn’t. However, you can use the Harmony Companion to schedule automatic temperature adjustments to your water heater (as well as your thermostat) in order to save electricity costs when you’re not at home. That’s where the Logitech Harmony App (which is free and available for both iOS and Android devices) comes in. We integrated our Philips Hue lights, and they worked, but sometimes the lights responded slower to the Harmony than to their own app or another third-party app. We think the smart home integration is a nice perk, but the lack of native Zigbee or Z-Wave support is very limiting.

We don’t normally recommend using a smartphone or tablet as a universal remote control.

The Harmony 650 is solely a handheld remote. The Hub that’s the heart of the Harmony Companion, on the other hand, can be controlled either from its handheld remote or from a smartphone or tablet running the Harmony App. We don’t normally recommend using a smartphone or tablet as a universal remote control—unless it’s dedicated to the purpose—because it’s a real pain to wake up the phone and wait for the app to reconnect with the system anytime you want to change the channel or the volume. If you disable sleep mode, you’ll be draining your battery throughout the time you’re watching, which can use up a big chunk of your battery life. It’s also impossible to operate most functions via a smartphone or tablet by feel. You have to take your eyes off the big screen and look down at the small screen to see what you need to press.

On the other hand, when it comes to programming Activities, adjusting the thermostat, turning an individual light on or off, or most any other home automation related task, the Harmony App is very convenient. Another benefit of the Harmony App is that it gives you the ability to control your AV and home automation devices from anywhere you have a connection to the internet. You can, for instance, turn the AV system off when it’s time for the kids to go to bed, even if you’re not at home.

Who else likes it?

Our own Chris Heinonen reviewed the Home Control (now called the Companion) for Reference Home Theater: “I’ve loved the Harmony Home Control in the two months I’ve owned it. It controls everything and lets me keep all my gear tucked away in the cabinet where you can’t see it.” And, “It’s simple, easy, and great for the price. If you need a remote control, this is what I’d buy today, no question.”

CNET’s David Katzmaier says, “the Home Control works beautifully. Nothing else comes close to its level of home theater control, ease of use and value.” He calls the Home Control “the best remote for the money I’ve ever used.”

CNET’s David Carnoy didn’t have as close a look at the Home Control, but what he saw convinced him that it “remains a strong value, particularly with its extra-long battery life — it’s powered by a watch battery — and relocated transport controls. I also like the choice of white.”

Darryl recently finished a review of the 15-device-capable Harmony Ultimate Home for Sound & Vision; we feel that the Companion offers 90 percent of the features of the Ultimate Home but costs less than half as much.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

The most egregious design flaw in the Harmony Companion is that the buttons on the handheld remote are not backlit. While it’s true that the raised buttons and intuitively organized layout makes it easy to use by feel only, that only applies if you know what each button is supposed to do. For example, if you can never remember which is the DVR button and which is the Guide button, you’ll struggle to operate the remote in the dark.

The Harmony Companion doesn’t have a display like the Harmony 650 does. That means many of the less-often used functions, such as changing the surround mode or subwoofer level, won’t be accessible through the Companion’s remote. Nor is the Help function available from the handheld remote, since there’s no way for the remote to interact with the user. The Harmony App offers a “FIX” feature that allows the user to directly access incorrect settings (power and input for components, for example). It’s faster but less intuitive to use than the Harmony 650’s Help function, since it doesn’t provide visual prompts.

The Harmony Companion is also missing some common wireless communication protocols used by a lot of home automation devices, most notably Z-Wave and ZigBee. Logitech’s Harmony Hub Extender will enable the Harmony Companion to communicate directly with smart devices using these protocols; unfortunately, the Extender will cost around $100 more (about the cost of a SmartThings hub, by the way).

The luxury upgrade

Harmony’s flagship remote adds support for up to 15 devices and a screen for maximum flexibility for home theater and smart home enthusiasts.

If the relative ease of programming, vast control database and smart activities of the Companion just isn’t enough for you, and what you really want is a cool touchscreen to let you tap your home theater into action, and you’d like to integrate even more of your smarthome devices into your system, then you’ll want to investigate the Harmony Elite, the top dog remote in the Logitech lineup.

The full-featured Harmony Elite. Photo: Michael Hession

The Elite is Harmony’s flagship remote, replacing the Ultimate Home. The standout feature of the Elite is the color touchscreen built into the remote. Instead of pressing hard buttons for Movie, TV, or Music, for instance, you scroll up and down on the screen for your activity and tap that. The screen then switches to pages customized for that activity, and the control options can go satisfyingly deep. All the activity names can be customized, or you can create your own. This is also the remote if you have a lot of gear—it can control up to 15 devices (up from the Companion’s eight-device limit) so it potentially replaces up to 15 other remotes (or lets you add control for more smart home gear, as we’ll discuss below).

Like the Harmony Companion, the Elite also allows you to hide your home theater gear in a cabinet or gear closet. It comes with two IR blasters you can position in front of the cabinet doors that keep your gear out of sight.

The Harmony Elite, like the Companion, is based on the Harmony Hub. Photo: Michael Hession

Like all the other Hub-based Harmony remotes, the Elite also allows you to use the Harmony app in addition to the actual remote.

Finally, the Elite—like the Companion or any Hub-based Harmony remote—can work with a handful of smart home products, including Philips Hue and LIFX lights, Nest thermostats, SmartThings and Insteon Hubs, Sonos wireless speakers and even the IFTTT app. The Hub connects with all those products via your home Wi-Fi network. With an Amazon Echo and Alexa’s IFTTT channel you can create recipes for voice control of any Harmony hub-based system. Using this setup, we created recipes to turn a complex home theater system on and off with simple voice commands. If you want to add even more smart home products, Logitech offers a Z-Wave and Zigbee bridge for another $100.

The Elite is a pleasure to use, and has the responsiveness and polish of a professionally-installed control system, but it also costs around $200 more than the Companion. It’s the king of do-it-yourself remotes, but it comes with a kingly price.

The app option

What if you don’t want another handheld device but the idea of universal remote control does appeal to you? An app may well do the job. We’re particularly fond of the Logitech Harmony app, which as noted, comes with any of the Hub-based remotes. You can also purchase the Harmony Home Hub as a standalone unit (it’s available without a remote) and just use the app. But that’s still around a hundred dollars—more than you’d spend for our top pick, the Harmony 650, and not so much a savings over the Companion that we’d recommend you give up the option of having a hardware remote altogether.

The Home Hub is is the same hub included with the other Hub-based Harmony units; without a hardware remote, you’ll use it via the Harmony app running on an iOS or Android device. The app is intuitive and easy to use, but we agree with the conclusion from last year’s guide: “[We] don’t recommend it.” As John Sciacca explained, “The biggest drawback is that a touchscreen requires you to constantly look away from the TV screen and down at your device as you search for the right part of the screen to touch, making channel surfing and volume tweaking cumbersome.”

PC Mag’s Alex Colon, who rated the Home Hub a 3.5 out of 5, said “it’s just as easy to perform simple tasks like adjusting the volume and changing channels using the app as it is with a standard remote. It feels great being able to tuck all those bulky remotes out of sight.” Gizmodo’s Adam Clark Estes agreed. After his first hands-on with the Harmony Hub, he wrote, “The app design is especially terrific, since it uses big bold controls and gradients to show you what your connected home devices are doing. Honestly, it worked so well I would personally skip the remote.”

The Pronto Peel is a good app remote for people who don’t have overly complicated systems. The product is in two parts: a hardware module that connects to your smartphone or tablet via Bluetooth and beams out IR commands to your home theater gear, and an iOS or Android app for you to poke at. It also comes with a corded IR blaster for getting the command signals to hard-to-reach devices. Like the Harmony, it can control components in a cabinet or closet as long as the Pronto module isn’t outside of Bluetooth range from your mobile devices.

Setting up the Pronto Peel started off easy. The app walks the user through a few simple steps to add a TV (projectors too), receiver, DVD/Blu-ray player, streaming media player, cable/satellite set-top-box, HTiB or soundbar. After that it guides you through creating activities based around your source components. It all was working well for us until time came to create an activity for watching streaming video. The IR codeset Peel found for one AV receiver didn’t include all the receiver’s video inputs, so to make the Roku work, we had to move some of the HDMI cables around until we found ones that corresponded to the five HDMI inputs the Peel said the receiver had (our receiver actually has 10 HDMI inputs). Another work-around was to teach the correct input code to the Pronto Peel, but the learned input couldn’t be added in the activity creation step, so that solution wasn’t perfect.

The Peel app is also more limited in what kinds of devices it can control. For instance, it can’t control any game system, while the Harmony will control most game systems as well as several smart home devices.

The Peel app is not quite as intuitive as the Harmony app, but we were able to get it to do everything we needed with a little finagling. If your AV system doesn’t go beyond the basic components and you want to be able to hide your gear and control it all cheaply, the Pronto Peel will have you covered. However, if you’re not committed to the idea of an app for your home theater, we still think you’ll be happier with the Harmony 650 handheld remote.

We also tried out the Nevo Portal from Universal Electronics. Like the Pronto Peel, the Nevo system includes an app and a Bluetooth module. One difference is that the Bluetooth module with the Nevo includes some fixed buttons itself, such as power and volume, so you can keep it on your coffee table to reach out and tap the volume up without opening the app. That’s a great feature, but the greatness ends there. The activity macros are difficult to set up and don’t always work, and the fixed buttons on the module were about as unreliable. Since it’s almost the same price as the Pronto Peel, you’re better off with the Peel.

The competition

About the only competition a Harmony remote has is another Harmony remote. There’s not a lot of competition in good universal remote controls.

The Wayne-Dalton WDHC-20 HomeSettings Controls Teleport Universal A/V Remote is unusual among the universal remotes available today in that it’s a combination of a universal IR remote and a Z-Wave controller. Compared with the more capable Home Control, though, the WDHC-20 is limited: it can control only four IR devices, has a much smaller database of IR codes, does not include Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, or USB connectivity, and only controls Z-Wave smart home devices—so unless you own some Z-Wave devices, this probably isn’t for you.

Universal Remote Control (the company) used to offer a range of good remotes, but the only URC model you can currently buy off the shelf is the clunky and difficult-to-program SR3, which only controls three devices. It’s more of a replacement remote than an universal remote.

RCA offers an eight-device capable “universal” replacement remote, along with two-, three-, four-, and six-device versions. The bigger RC remotes even have programmable macros that let you power up several devices with one button press, but they aren’t capable of the kind of switching or complex control the Harmony devices can accomplish.

Like RCA, One for All has several universal remotes in their lineup (at least those for sale in the United States), including the Simple 4; these have similarly limited programmability and only support three or four devices.

What to look forward to

In the fall of 2015, high-end home automation company Savant announced that it was taking a detour off the custom installation path with a DIY product, the Savant Remote and hub. The new Savant system controls home entertainment gear through IR, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi; it uses a very cool battery-operated IR blaster (so it doesn’t have to be plugged into the hub) and a slick handheld remote (with a companion app, of course). Like the Harmony Elite and Companion, it includes some home automation features, namely the ability to control forthcoming Bluetooth light switches. In the short time we played with one during a demo, it looked like a strong competitor, but at around $500, it’s still a luxury purchase compared to any of the other universal remotes on the market. We expect to receive a review unit soon and will post an update as soon as we can.

Another newcomer, the Ray Super Remote, looks like a smartphone, but it’s a dedicated touchscreen remote. Currently the Super Remote can only be used in systems with a cable subscription, but as soon as that changes, we’ll add it to this guide.

The Neeo remote is similar to the Savant (and the Hub-based Harmony systems) in that it uses a handheld module plus a hub and that together they can control an AV system and some smart home devices. Neeo is taking pre-orders for the system for $339 and plans to ship later in 2016.

Wrapping it up

The Harmony Companion and the Harmony 650 both offer control of up to eight devices, but that’s where the similarities end. The Companion’s separate Hub uses a combination of IR, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi to extend its control capabilities beyond that of the IR-only 650. Not only can it control Sonos speakers, the Companion integrates with a variety of smart home systems, and the Harmony mobile app gives you the options of using a smartphone or tablet as a remote as well as control of your home from anywhere you have internet access.

The 650 is still our favorite for systems with components using only IR remotes. The Companion, on the other hand, is the best value for the money you can find in a remote that can let you integrate control of your AV and home automation systems.

Darryl Wilkinson, currently editor-at-large for Sound & Vision, has written feature articles on technology and reviews of tech gear for publications such as Home Theater Magazine, Digital TV & Sound, and Electronic House for 15 years. Prior to his reviewing career, he spent almost 14 years working for independent AV stores in both retail sales and purchasing.

Grant Clauser has been reporting on home technology for trade and consumer publications for more than 15 years. He has held senior editor positions at Dealerscope, Custom Retailer, E-Gear, and Electronic House and has written for many other publications including Sound & Vision, Big Picture Big Sound, CE Pro, and Consumer Digest. He’s completed THX Level II, ISF, Home Acoustics Alliance, and Control4 Certification training. His non-tech writing can be found at UnIambic.

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